Sprocket-wheel.



No. 836,044, PATBNTED N0v..13, 1906.

B'. P. KBPBBLMANN.

SPROCKET WHEEL. ABPLYIUATI'ON FILED 11mm, 190e.

PATENT OFFICE.

ERICH P. KEPPELMANN, OF MCKEESPORT, PENNSYLVANIA..

SPROCKET-WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 13, 1906.

Application filed February 8. 1906. Serial No. 300.175.

To @ZZ whom it may con/cern,.-

Be it known that I, ERICH P. KEPPEL- MANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at McKeesport, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sprocket- Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a novel form of construction of sprocket-wheels, said wheels being adapted for use both as drive and driven wheels.

The object of the invention is a sectional sprocketheel in which the two sections rotate about a common axis and engage the same chain, the teeth of the sections alternating, the strain or torque being sustained by a tooth of one section while an adjacent tooth of the coacting section is in the act of engaging or disengaging a link of the chain.

The invention consists of a sprocket-wheel formed of two circular interlocking sections each carrying the same number of teeth, the said teeth alternating when the sections are assembled together, all of the teeth describing the same path and all meshing with links of one common chain, and the invention further consists in a sprocket formed of a plurality of sections having concentrically-arranged hubs and a clearance provided between the said sections.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the parts .assembled to form a complete sprocket-wheel. Figs. 2 and 4 are face views of different sections, respectively, the sections being adapted to interlock. Figs. 3 and 5 are sections on the lines 3 3 and 5 5, respectively, of Figs. 2 and 4. Fig. 6 is a diametrical section through the sprocket-wheel, the sections being assembled. Fig. 7 is a detail view, partly in section and partly in elevation, showing the clearance and sprindg, the latter being in elevation. Fig. 8 is a iagrammatic plan of a portion of the periphery of the wheel.

In constructing my sprocket-wheel I einploy two sections A and B, which sections comprise substantially the same parts, though differing slightly in construction.

The section A comprises a hub portion A', which extends a considerable distance upon one side of the body of the section to form a bearing for a hub portion of the section B. It is provided with a bore A2, adapted to fit the shaft to which the sprocket-wheel is to be keyed or otherwise secured and with which it will rotate. The section A is also formed on its inner face with a plurality of alternating recesses A3 and projections A4, the latter carry ing the sprockets A5, which may be of any desired number.

The section B comprises a hub portion B, having a bore B2, adapted to receive the hub portion A of the section A. The section B is otherwise the counterpart of section A, having recesses B4 on its inner face adapted to receive the projections AA1 of the section A and having also projections B3, adapted to rest in the recesses A3 of the section A. It is also provided with sprockets B5, which when the sections are assembledtogether alternate with the sprockets A5 of the section A. When so assembled, a clearance C is left between the inner faces of the projections A4 and B3 and the walls of the respective recesses in which they fit. This clearance permits the arrangement of a curved leaf-spring C between the projections of one section and those of the other and, furthermore, allows a limited play of the sections with reference to each other, the section B having a limited movement on the hub portion of section A independent of movement of the section A and of the shaft to which A is keyed. This permits the link to be straightened out as it leaves the sprocket and to be kinked7 as it engages the sprocket with greater ease than on the ordinary form of sprocket-wheel, the sprocket of one section sustaining the torque and taking up the strain as the adjacent sprocket of the other section engages or releases a link of the chain. The springs C aid in equalizing the torque transmitted. at any given instant by the two sections.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A sprocket-wheel formed of interlocksections adapted to rotate on a common aXis and having teeth adapted to engage a common chain.

2. A sprocket-wheel formed of interlocking sections, one of said sections having a hub portion adapted to be keyed to a shaft and the other section having a hub portion adapted to rotate freely upon the hub of the firstmentioned section, and sprocket-teeth carried by the sections and adapted to mesh with a common chain.

3. A sprocket-wheel comprised of two sections, one of said sections having a hub portion said hub having a bore adapted to fit a ITO shaft, and the said hub forming a bearing for the other section, and alternately-arranged sprocl et-teeth on the section adapted to mesh with a chain common to all of the teeth of the said sprocket-wheel.

4. A sprocket-wheel of the kind described comprising sections having coacting projections and recesses on their inner faces, said sections having hub portions and one of said sections rotating on the hub portion of the other, a clearance being formed between the sections, sprocket-teeth formed on the proj ections of each section, and springs arranged in the clearance between the projections.

5. A sprocket-wheel comprising a section having a hub portion projecting laterally beyond the body of the section, the inner face of the said section having alternating proj ections and recesses thereon, sprocket-teeth formed on the projections, a second section having a hub portion adapted to engage the projecting hub portion oi." the iirst section, the said section having on its inner face projections and recesses adapted to interlock with the iirst section, sprocket-teeth carried by the projections of the section and adapted to alternate with those of the irst section, and springs arranged between the projections of the two sections, the second-mentioned section having a limited movement with respect to the first.

ERICH P. KEPPELMANN.

Witnesses PETER DIETZ, JAMES SnEILDs. 

